As I thought about what I would create for this month's Word Challenge I decided to do something a little different than the typical individual Inchie. My intentions of sharing the myriad ways of using Inchies has been somewhat waylaid by the reality of trying to successfully operate a business. As I try to do what is right for everyone around me I realize that many times I don't necessarily do what might be right for me and I decided to just take the time to be creative.

ETA: Clue #5 Our CLASSroom design team is fun and dynamic --- go find the personal blog of the one who has shared, a Canvas Album beyond compare!

This is a project that I have thought about creating for a number of years. I once started it in a different format and of course did not complete it because it just took too long. This time I simplified it - sometimes one word can say so much, so in thinking about the message that color provides (remember this post, "The Many Moods of Color" - it has been a LONG time!) I picked words that I felt connected with each color in the rainbow and were appropriate for how I felt about myself.

To begin I used my 1" Square punch and selected six different colors from this one 6"x6" piece of paper. As I began to do so it all started to come together for me, and I quickly traced six Inchie squares on a piece of scrap paper. I then wrote the color and word next to each square that I felt represented me. This was my palette to experiment with; my place to make certain I was getting the words and images in the position I wanted so that I would only need to stamp once. That old saying, "measure numerous times, cut once," came to mind.

As you can see I completed punching the squares before stamping my Old Typewriter image on the remaining paper. I have meant to share with everyone the versatility of this stamp from the day I received it. The current trend of cutting out individual letters to make titles and sentiments is SO easy with this stamp. Another stamp that would work in a similar fashion is the AlphaNumber Backgrounder.

Simply stamp the image and then using your little snip scissors cut out the individual letters and arrange. As you can see I popped up some letters with dimensionals just to add more character.

I then went about creating images for each "Color of Me." When I decide to do something I give it everything I have, and so I selected the word passionate as my red word.

Orange, is a color of excitement and exploration and my hope is always that I will continue to explore and learn. In turn I will then share what I have learned and try and inspire others to do the same. I believe that learning keeps us "young at mind" and my hope is that I will remain "young at mind and heart" for a long time!

Happiness! We all seek happiness. Life can hand us things that we are most certainly not ready for, but through it all we need to keep that ray of yellow sunshine in our lives. If we don't, we get buried - I've been there, done that, and I most certainly do NOT want to go there again. So I will continue to try and provide a ray of sunshine in others lives, being when I do that, I feel so much better about myself and who it is that I am. Your supportive comments bring me happiness - little did I realize until as of late, that I am so affected by the verbal support of others. So I thank you for sharing yourself with me as you make comments on my posts. I truly wish that I had more time in the day to respond to each and every one of them, but please know that I appreciate you - you bring me happiness.

I seek serenity. Sometimes like a butterfly it is elusive. With the stress of being a working mom it is hard to find that peace and serenity that the color green provides. Perhaps that is why I love the color green so much - LOL! When my dad used to tell me that green was his favorite color I didn't get it - why green? Now I get it Ü Green is peace and serenity.

Trust, confidence, and in some versions of blue, serenity are words that came to mind. Instead I picked the word genuine. What you see is what you get - I wear my heart on my sleeve. Sometimes it gets me in trouble, but I don't know that I would or should change that part of who it is that I am. As of late I have been struggling with trust, but as I struggle I need to remember that I need to remain true to who it is that I am. I need to remain genuine.

The last color I selected was purple. Purple is the color of royalty and in the days of old it truly correlated to bravery and courage. Right now I am needing a whole heap of courage, so this is the word that best represents the color purple in me.

As you can see I mounted my little Inchie squares in a manner that is not tidy and neat. Yes, I LIKE tidy and neat, but that is not the way life is and so my little Inchies are not tidy and neat. So finally I have accomplished one of the things on my list. Taking the time to reflect on my life and who it is that I am. Then I need to figure out the next step in my life. Creativity can be such a stress reliever if you can take part in it without feeling hurried.

Inchies are yet another way to explore your own creativity. I hope that with this post I have inspired you to create just to enjoy the process of creating. I hope that I have inspired you to try giving little words, little Inchies, little things that are new and different a try. Come and explore with me, together we will remain "young at heart and mind!"

Thank you so much for sharing this; I love it! Your description of colors and the way they match moods was so accurate: my happiest child's favorite color is yellow (she's my butterfly, and yellow is her passion)...the favorite color of my most excited child (who's ready to tackle the world) is orange! I never realized how important color is to us.
Thank you again...I love your project.

Dear friend,
Thank you for sharing this wonderful creation. Isn't it funny how our art reflects our lives - who we are and where we are at the moment? Trust has always been my weakest trait (with reason). One tiny mistep from anyone and I would withdraw into my turtle shell. Even now, there are only a couple of people in my world that I trust completely. Trust - it's a small word with a BIG meaning.

Dear friend,
Thank you for sharing this wonderful creation. Isn't it funny how our art reflects our lives - who we are and where we are at the moment? Trust has always been my weakest trait (with reason). One tiny mistep from anyone and I would withdraw into my turtle shell. Even now, there are only a couple of people in my world that I trust completely. Trust - it's a small word with a BIG meaning.

This was a beautiful sharing of YOU! I am truly touched by this project of yours. It's not very hard to share of someone you love or even like, but I know that to put yourself out is a biggie. So, Kudos to you. You are a beautiful person inside and out.

The first link says *No Product Found* and went through the Rummage Bin to find something saying Inchie Style and didn't see anything. I wondered if that was the neat background you used on the Inchies? They are beautiful and so are you, Ellen!